Dick Barton: Episode IV - The Flight of the Phoenix

Synopsis

Join Dick Barton in the most terrifically terrifying episode yet. The question is can Dick crack the code for a fourth time or will his stiff upperlip tremble with fear and the nation's hopes be dashed by our most treasured hero...? Tune in as the 401s radio star dares to defeat his most secretive assailant.

Our Review:

13 December 2002

A sure sign that it's Christmas in Croydon is that Dick Barton is again playing at the Warehouse Theatre. This is now the fourth appearance of the 1940's BBC radio super-hero at this intimate little venue and the first not to be written by the theatre's own super-hero, Phil Willmott. And it shows.

Duncan Wisbey and Stefan Bednarczyk's take on the class-ridden, stiff-upper-lip culture of post-war Britain is less than convincing - Dick's rakishly placed trilby is now looking distinctly worn, while his trademark gabardine Mac is more than a little grubby.

The previous Barton episodes were joyous straight-faced spoofs, densely (if incomprehensibly) plotted and with razor sharp writing. Dick Barton - The Flight of the Phoenix, on the other hand, is little more than over-extended revue sketches in which Dick is reduced to the role of anchorman in a series of encounters with a colourfully bizarre collection of characters. Readers who can recall the BBC's...

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